Many devices exist in the music industry which allows musicians of stringed instruments, particularly guitars, to mechanically alter the pitch of a string. Such a device allows the artist great flexibility in providing a vibrato effect on a single string of the instrument. It is often used in country music to provide a country twang.
There are some known string benders which currently exist in the marketplace and each design varies greatly in terms of how it is mounted on the guitar and how it is activated during the playing of a guitar. Many of these devices require permanent structural changes to the guitar such as screwing in the device to the guitar body or hollowing out a portion of the rear of the guitar to accommodate the bending device. Additionally, the devices often contain mechanical stop mechanisms to ensure that the guitar string stays in tune when in neutral position.
The mechanical stops are also used to limit the amount by which the pitch of the string being bent can be changed, typically to one or two semitones. Such mechanical stops limit the movement of the string to a single direction, either up or down in pitch. This limits the creative options for the artist. Additionally, the devices are unable to effect the string pitch more than one or two semitones.
The string bending devices of the prior art tend to be relatively complex, requiring many parts and a great deal of space on the guitar body. As such, there are none that enable more than one guitar string to have a bending device mounted thereon. Again, this limits the creative options for the artist as only select strings can be bent.
There exists a need for a guitar string bender which can allow for the bending of the string both up or down in pitch, small in size and simple in design, thus allowing for multi string benders to be mounted on a guitar at one time.
There is also a need for a pitch-bender to have a greater range than one or two semitones.